Peter Sagan (Cannondale) used teammates Moreno Moser and Damiano Caruso to blow the peloton into pieces on the final climb in today's 8th stage of the Tour de Suisse and in the sprint no one was a match for the talented Slovakian. He beat Daniele Bennati (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) to take his second stage win in the race while Mathias Frank (BMC) safely defended his overall lead ahead of tomorrow's decisive time trial.

Until today it had been a strange Tour de Suisse for Peter Sagan as the Slovakian had won a mountain stage but come away empty-handed from the sprints. Today he finally put his fast finish back on track as he beat Daniele Bennati and Philippe Gilbert to win the 8th stage of the race.

A calm day came down to a dramatic finish as an early breakaway had been caught prior to a tough category 3 climb inside the final 10km of the stage. All the teams were jostling for position as they approached the ascent that was set to decide the race.

On the lower slopes David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) hit the front, the Briton wanting to keep team leader Daniel Martin safe. Just behind all the GC riders and sprinters fought hard to stay in the best possible position.

With 8km to go, Andreas Klöden (Radioshack) was the first to attack but just moments later Sagan showed his intentions. Knowing that he is the superior climber among the sprinters, he asked teammate Moreno Moser to set a torturous tempo on the climb and the Italian quickly brought Klöden back into the fold.

The fate was the same for Oliver Zaugg (Saxo-Tinkoff) who was the next to try his hand but Moser simply put the hammer down to discourage any attacks. Throughout the entire climb, Sagan was safely positioned in his wheel while the peloton had blown to pieces behind.

As they approached the top, less than 40 riders were left in the front group and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r) now saw an opportunity to attack. The veteran crested the summit in first position but a move by Ion Izagirre (Euskaltel) over the top saw the Frenchman being brought back into the tow.

Damiano Caruso was the next Cannondale rider to hit the front but just as he did that, Philippe Gilbert made his expected attack. Sagan knew that he was a danger man and so closed it down immediately, not allowing the world champion any leeway at all.

Sagan stayed at the front for a short while but as relieved from his pace-setting duties when Arnold Jeannesson (FDJ) moved up with team leader Thibaut Pinot in his wheel. The latter is not the best descender and the team wanted to keep him safe as they powered down towards the finish.

With 2km to go, Moser was back on the front while it was time to find out if any of the fast sprinters had survived the climb. On the flat roads towards the city of Bad Ragaz, Bennati, Gilbert, Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano) all moved into position.

With Bennati in the group, Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) upped the pace to prevent any of the other sprinters from getting back on but when they passed the flamme rouge it was Tejay Van Gaderen who worked hard to set up Gilbert for the sprint. Overall leader Mathias Frank even tried to give the world champion a lead-out but it would be no win for the Belgian today.

Bennati opened a long sprint but Sagan was always in his wheel. With 200m to go, the Slovakian put down the hammer and took a hugely convincing win ahead of Bennati and Gilbert.

Frank finished safely in the bunch to defend his narrow 13-second lead over defending champion Rui Costa (Movistar) ahead of tomorrow's decisive time trial. Starting at 16.05 you can follow the dramatic conclusion to the Tour de Suisse on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A calm start

The 180,5km final road stage of the Tour de Suisse was the final chance for many teams to chase success and so many expected an aggressive start to the race. Surprisingly, the peloton was in no mood to race from the beginning and from the gun, 4 riders were allowed to move clear.

Maxime Bouet (Ag2r), Robert Vrecer (Euskaltel), Manuele Mori (Lampre) and Reto Hollenstein (IAM) built up a gap which reached its maximum of 5.37 over the top of the category 1 Julierpass after 44km of racing. At that point, Cannondale, Argos-Shimano and Orica-GreenEdge started to chase as they had high hopes for Sagan, John Degenkolb and Matt Goss respectively.

The gap is stabilized

For most of the stage, the pace was being set by Edward King, Paolo Longo Borghini and Michel Koch (Cannondale), Jonas Ahlstrand (Argos-Shimano), Sam Bewley and Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) and for a long time, they kept the gap stable at around 4 minutes. At one point, they upped the pace to bring it back down to 2 minutes with 90km to go before they once again chose to stabilize the advantage.

The stage was an extremely calm one as there was never any doubt that the break would be caught and many riders used the opportunity to catch up with their colleagues on a sunny day. Up ahead, Vrecer took maximum points on the Julierpass and in the first intermediate sprints to move into the lead of and seal the win in both the mountains and the sprints competitions.

Hollenstein attacks

With 35km to go, the three chasing teams significantly upped the pace, brining the gap down at a rapid pace, while the teams now started to jostle for positions behind. With 26km to go, the gap was down to just 30 seconds and so Hollenstein attacked to try his hand on his own.

Bouet decided to wait for the peloton while Vrecer and Mori gave chase but the duo was brought back into the fold a few moments later. Movistar had now moved to the front with Enrique Sanz setting the pace and with 17km to go, it was all over for Hollenstein.

Battle for position

The battle for position was now fierce and Baden Cooke (Orica-GreenEdge), Gatis Smukulis (Katusha), Sanz, Wesley Kreder (Vacansoleil) all hit the front at different points at this crucial phase. With 12km to go, Garmin took control with most of their team and Johan Vansummeren and Tyler Farrar guided the peloton to the bottom of the final category 3 climb.

Millar took over as soon as the road started to point upwards, thus starting off the exciting finale from which Sagan emerged as the strongest.

Result:

1. Peter Sagan 4.33.26

2. Daniele Bennati

3. Philippe Gilbert

4. Michael Albasini

5. Christophe Riblon

6. Martin Elmiger

7. Peter Velits

8. Julien Simon

9. Maxime Monfort

10. Simon Geschke

General classification:

1. Mathias Frank 30.16.02

2. Rui Costa +0.13

3. Roman Kreuziger +0.23

4. Thibaut Pinot +0.44

5. Bauke Mollema +0.46

6. Tejay Van Garderen +1.17

7. Daniel Martin +1.23

8. Tanel Kangert +1.43

9. Simon Spilak +1.50

10. Cameron Meyer +2.09

Points classification:

1. Peter Sagan 80

2. Arnaud Demare 50

3. Alexander Kristoff 41

4. Bauke Mollema 37

5. Matthew Goss 30

Mountains classification:

1. Robert Vrecer 31

2. Thibaut Pinot 28

3. Manuele Mori 23

4. Rui Costa 17

5. Alexandr Kolobnev 15

Sprint classification:

1. Robert Vrecer 15

2. Enrique Sanz 13

3. Adrian Saez 13

4. Maxime Bouet 9

5. Alexandr Kolobnev 7

Teams classification:

1. Astana 90.56.49

2. BMC +1.38

3. Movistar +4.19

4. Ag2r +6.16

5. Katusha +9.05